Neil's account hacked

My twitter account has been hacked. Please ignore all messages you are receiving from my ID," tweeted Neil Nitin Mukesh from his publicist's twitter handle.

Vijay Malla's website hacked

Industrialist Vijay Mallya's personal website has been hacked allegedly by some Pakistanis, who have posted a Pakistani flag on the website. The defaced site says 'Feel the Pakistan' with danger signs and adds that 'we are sleeping, not dead". Mallya's spokesperson said a complaint would be filed with the Mumbai police on Monday.

What the hack!

Shibani Kashyap has learnt a memorable lesson: Not to log on to the Internet from an alien computer. A few days ago, someone hacked into her Facebook and email account and at the end of the ordeal, she had to delete one e-mail ID and open a new one for work-related communication only.

Indian army major's computer hacking link traced to Pak

June 16, 2010

Two senior officers under scanner for role in suspected espionage ring

New Delhi:

Indian agencies are looking into the possible role of two senior army officers in a suspected espionage ring, following the hacking of the computer of a major based in the Andamans.

Watch out! That 'tweet' can turn your comp into a zombie

Twitter is being used to infect thousands of systems to carry out cyber attacks

Remote Control

The attackers may send you an email asking you to download a popular programme. If you click on the web link in the mail, your computer could be infected and a remote users will be able to misuse your system without your knowledge.

The criminals are preparing an army of such computers that will act on their command sent out through Twitter.

The army of computers may also be used to propagate a particular ideology or to carry out spam attacks. The hackers may also attack the defence website through these zombie computers.

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Cyber criminals is have found a new platform to launch attacks on millions of computers in cyber space. They are now using micro-blogging website Twitter to control and send orders to zombie computers infected by virus or malware, says a research report by Kaspersky Laboratories, a computer security solutions firm.

According to David Jacoby, a senior officials of the company, a hacker tool named Twitter Builder, which is used to form botnets or Zombie computers, is being propagated through several famous social networking websites.

The trouble may land in your email box with some catchy subject line, such as ' twittterdownloader', which is commonly known to most Internet user's computers is infected by a Trojan that then begins to act on the commands given to it through an account created on Twitter. The Kaspersky report also says that the malicious software tool infecting as an attachment with chat conversations.

It expert Sahir Hidayatullah from MIEL e-security said: " when hackers want to take control of a computer,, they are not always interested in the data of that individual system. Sometimes, they just want to carry out cyber crimes through the infected system. This way, the criminals can make an army of thousands of computers to act on their orders, without the knowledge of the systems; owners."

Hidayatullah said the hackers might also place orders through tweets and then carry out spam attack in cyber space. " Also, the army of computers could be misused for propagating their ideology and carry out attacks on defence websites," Hidayatullah pointed out.

Initially, botnets or zombie computers were controlled by cyber criminals through chat rooms. But now cyber criminals have started using websites like Twitter to run their activities. The users could never have any idea about the activities his infected computer is carrying out till his internet protocol address is detected by an agency investigating an illegal activity.

According to experts , the Zombie computers are also being sold to other groups of cyber criminals who need large number of computers to carry out illegal activities online. According to an estimate, the criminals charge anything between $10 and $200 for a thousands zombies.

Vijay Mukhi, advisory to Mumbai police on cyber safety, said the botnet attacks are being carried out from international locations. " We are not able to catch the culprits because there is little international cooperation as far as cyber crimes are concerned."

Air Force looks to IITs to tackle Chinese hackers

New Delhi:

Emulates pentagon to plug loopholes in its computer systems

"We want to see how fragile we are and what we need to do in case someone breaks into our systems."
-a senior IAF official

Alarmed by reports from top foreign agencies about three computer systems of Indian Air force (IAF) installed at sensitive bases being compromised by Chinese hackers, the IAF has decided to call in two Indian Institutes of Technology (IITS) to hack into their systems and plug the loopholes within.

Of the three stations where IAF computer systems are installed, one is just across the prime minister's 7 Race Course residence. Two other systems are installed outside Delhi.

A senior IAF official on condition of anonymity told 'DNA':"We want to see how fragile we are and what we need to do in case someone breaks into our systems": "He, however, hastened to add that the IAF was not sure whether a Chinese hacker had stolen data from its computers as reported by the US agencies.

The issue was discussed at recently concluded IAF commanders' conference on cyber crime. IITs would also suggest options for safety to IAF for their computers. A senior officer said the Chinese hacking did not bother the IAF, but it was important for them to learn precautionary measures.

The officer said that though operational plans were not digitised in the services and with systems having atleast three firewalls and algorithms in place in IAF, breaking through may not be easy for hackers.

But IAF seems to have decided to take some tough steps. In 2006, IAF set up its largest online network with166 nodes, for logistic duties, all over the country, called Integrated Materials Management Online Services (IMMOLS). The system aims to improve the availability of items leading to an enhanced serviceability of weapon systems and to reduce inventory costs by minimising non moving inventory.

Following in the footsteps of the Pentagon, where professional hackers are called in to hack systems for a large sum, IAF has, as a precautionary step, approached the technical institutions so that steps can be taken to plug these loopholes.

A source said the Pentagon also dissuades professional hackers by paying them large amounts as part of an agreement that the hackers by paying them large amounts as part of an agreement that the hackers would not compromise the Pentagon computers. Multinational companies too protected their intellectual property through their own network systems guarded by firewalls. IAF has decided to go the same way, the source said, but refused to divulge details about paying the hackers to keep them from compromising its computers.